


Time Stays, We Go

by The_Lionheart



Category: Doctor Who, The Avengers (2012), Thor (2011)
Genre: Child Abuse, Kid Loki, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-04-14
Updated: 2012-04-14
Packaged: 2017-11-03 15:16:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/382849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Lionheart/pseuds/The_Lionheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a strange blue box where there wasn't one before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time Stays, We Go

**Author's Note:**

> References to physical and mental abuse of a small child, neglect.

This whole section of Manhattan is in _shambles_ , the streets empty, many of them torn up from the ground itself. Cars are shredded where they're parked, some burning, others encased in blocks of ice. The good news- the _only_ good news- is that this neighborhood was evacuated before the worst of the battle could happen, thanks to the timely intervention of SHIELD and local law enforcement. Most of Loki's army is down, but the root of all these problems is surrounded by a deepening well of crackling energy, his manic laughter distorted eerily by the flow of magic around him.

The Avengers have two, three, four seconds to breathe in the false quiet, dust settling. They are gathered together- even Hawkeye, fallen from his perch, even Widow, out of the shadows.

It's Hawkeye who notices it first- the slight twitch of Loki's head, the moment when his gaze focuses to his left- and then Coulson is in their ears, screaming over the comms to _get those civilians out of the line of fire now._

Thor acts first, barreling headlong towards Loki. Hulk rushes in next, followed by Captain America, and Hawkeye and Black Widow are suddenly out of view, but arrows and bullets are flying, so Tony knows they're around here _somewhere_.

Which leaves rescuing the civilians to _Tony._ Great.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

His hands are warm and soft, the pads of his thumbs brushing gently against the bruises that mar the bone-white lines of a ribcage. Loki has a poor sense of time's passage when he is a child, but he might already be seven years old, and even in the fleeting memories he has of Frigga he can't remember ever being handled so carefully, as if it _matters_ whether he is hurt or not.

“Been a nurse for years now and I've never had to do this for a kid. You're being very _brave_ ,” he tells Loki, and it's a lie, it _has_ to be, because even at this age Loki knows that he is a coward and a weakling. The woman and the other man come back from the strange blue door, smiling, and she holds out a strange sort of tankard made of some kind of smooth, glassy stone.

“It's tea, none of that fancy stuff, but I put honey in it,” she tells Loki, and at his perplexed look her smile falls a little. “You drink tea, don't you?”

“I-I can,” Loki says softly, taking a small sip before something in him takes over and he starts gulping it down. It's delicious, sweet and hot and possibly the best thing Loki's ever put in his mouth.

“Easy, kid,” the man with the funny hat and the very old eyes says, his voice soothing. “There's more where that came from.”

Loki wonders if that's a lie, too.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tony's first thought is _Pepper,_ because the woman is leggy, with a flash of red-ginger hair, but that thought passes as soon as it's formed. It's not Pepper, it's some young girl in a miniskirt, dragging a dork wearing a fez and another dork wearing an unseasonable jacket by the wrists, away from the brilliant blue... shed? It says “police box” on it, and Tony has no idea what the hell it is or why, for that matter, it's still _standing_.

His suit's giving him all sorts of bizarre, conflicting readings on it, but whatever.

“Get a move on, you two,” she's yelling, and _ooh_ , Scottish is one of Tony's _favorite_ flavors, but right now-

“Hey, beautiful, I'm just going to get you kids out of here,” Tony says swiftly, coming to a landing a few feet in front of them. The dork in the fez seems to be geeking out about Tony, which is usually a fine reaction, except redhead and her other dork seem more angry than impressed, and there's the oh-so-tiny detail of a rampaging Loki less than a hundred yards down the street, trading blows with Thor and looking like he's going to run right over and rip them all to pieces.

“Keep your hands off me, Mister,” the redhead says firmly, “that man needs our help and we're _going_ over there now.”

“Amy, maybe this time we ought to listen to the super-hero, yeah?” The dork not wearing a fez seems reasonable, at least.

“This really isn't the time or the place, guys-” And Tony's about to grab them anyways, just fly them out of there, but the one in the fez- still beaming cheerfully, dammit- points something that looks like a bizarre flashlight-vibrator-thing at Tony's suit and out of nowhere his HUD goes dark. Tony lets out a string of obscenities that JARVIS would probably scold him for if he could actually _hear_ them, but he doesn't miss it when the one in the fez pats the suit absentmindedly.

“Sorry, should be fine in a moment or two,” he tells Tony, not sounding at all apologetic. The redhead- Amy, apparently- has started jogging towards the fight.

“ _Loki!_ ” she's yelling, and Tony's expletives suddenly become even more creative.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The poker from the fireplace in Loki's private bedchamber is ice-cold, hasn't been used in a very long time, but it's pretty sharp and it's metal and it's light enough for him to pick up and use one-handed.

Loki doesn't know what to do, but he _was_ lying in his bed, _trying_ to sleep away the stabbing pain in his chest and his currently-useless dislocated arm, and all of a sudden there was this loud, strange noise and this great big box just... _appeared out of nowhere_. So he thinks the proper thing to do- what _Father_ would want, what _Thor_ would do- is to arm himself and wait until his intruders show themselves, and then kill them mightily.

Only they step out of the box, and it's just three people, and they're talking like they don't even know where they are, or that Loki's here.

“-you'll love it, all pomp and circumstance, and then there's the _afterparty_ ,” the leader says happily. He's wearing a strange little hat and waving about a little stick or dagger. He hasn't noticed Loki, but the lady and the other man seem to have. “ _Nobody_ throws an afterparty like an Asgardian!”

“Doctor-” the lady begins.

“And Bor will be a _great_ king, the first Allfather, if you can believe that, a great guy, I've been to this coronation three times already, you are going to _love_ it-”

“Doctor, we're not alone,” the other man says, and the leader- Doctor, Loki guesses- finally turns and looks at Loki. His eyes widen, and Loki shrinks back, too afraid to think much about using the steel poker to smite the intruders anymore.

“Amy, Rory,” the Doctor says quietly, his eyes trained on Loki's. “Do you remember what I've said about fixed points in time?”

“Come on out, you little tyke,” the woman- Amy- says, leaning down a little. Loki doesn't budge from his spot, although he wants very hard to back up through the wall and disappear _completely_. “What's that on your face, kiddo?”

“Those are bruises,” Rory says, stepping closer. Loki doesn't want to look away from the Doctor, but he also doesn't want this Rory person sneaking up on him, and the man is close enough for Loki to see the faint lines near his eyes, which are a warm dark brown unlike any eyes he can remember seeing. “Your arm looks like it _hurts_ , can you tell me where?”

“We're... not in the right era. Made a mistake, these things do happen. We should _go_ ,” the Doctor says, and Rory turns and gives him a look that reminds Loki of Thor, a little bit.

“I'm not leaving a hurt kid,” he says quietly but firmly. The Doctor sighs, glancing at his strange blue box for a moment before coming right up to Loki and crouching down in front of him.

“Hello, Loki Odinson,” he says, the strange little stick dangling from his long fingers. “I'm the Doctor.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Loki is screaming something now, and Steve isn't sure what exactly it is until Thor's blasted back into a line of partially-destroyed cars- well, completely destroyed, now. He rushes to Thor's side, and only then can he really make out the words.

“-eft me! You _left_ me! You left me there and you _knew_!” he is shrieking, and _oh god_ , those civilians are even _closer_ , what the hell was Tony thinking not pulling them out of here? To Steve's ever-growing horror, he realizes that Loki is not fighting the Avengers anymore- he is storming _past_ them, towards the three intruders, eyes wild and shining.

“Thor, _get up_ , we have to _stop_ him,” Steve says urgently, and Thor groans, pulling himself to his feet. He looks a little dazed, but not exactly hurt. The Hulk is digging through some rubble, and- aha, Natasha's using one thick green forearm as a ladder to pull herself up. Steve can hear Hawkeye complaining over his comm, so that's a relief, but that leaves _Tony_.

“Eyes on Ironman, guys,” Steve says into his comm, and Coulson's the one who responds.

“Stark's down, Captain, the civilians shut him down-” Before he can continue, Steve's off like a shot, towards Loki and those people who appear to be allies of some kind.

Or possibly not. Tears are streaming freely down Loki's face, magic sparking off of him in uncontrolled flashes.

Steve looks at the three seemingly normal people, and even though they look a little nervous, none of them actually look _afraid_.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It starts with Rory fussing over bruises and hurts that no one would have ever noticed or cared for _before_ , and it turns into Amy complaining about how skinny Loki is and forcing food and tea into him. They take him into the box and it's so much _bigger_ on the _inside_ , and Loki actually _loves_ it, wants to learn about it, about how it works. That charms the Doctor into showing him things, half of his explanations making sense and the other half sounding silly and made-up.

One hour becomes two, which swiftly becomes four, and then Rory is speaking quietly to Amy and then later to the Doctor, while Amy feeds Loki different things and tries to determine which of them is his favorite.

“No,” Loki hears the Doctor say, “ _absolutely not_. What part of _fixed point in time_ don't you get, Mr. Pond? He has to go through it because it makes him _that person_. Without him, there aren't any Avengers, don't you see?”

“No, I _don't_ see, it's just a bunch of grown men in tights-”

“-who save the world a hundred times over, who are responsible for the start of the Heroic Age, Ultron, the Registration Act! The Avengers have to exist, and _he_ has to be the one who brings them together!”

“Hey, kiddo,” Amy says, holding up a plate covered in strange things that instantly distract Loki from the overheard conversation. “Raspberry or chocolate?”

“What is chocolate?” Loki asks, mystified. He is still eating something Amy says are chocolate biscuits when Rory and the Doctor come back, neither one of them looking _totally_ happy.

“So, Loki, would you like to go on a little trip with us?” the Doctor asks, and Loki catches the tiny smile Rory gives Amy at that.

“Where?” Loki asks cautiously, and the Doctor beams.

“Everywhere,” he says, and he _means_ it. They spend three days in a huge, ancient forest, and Loki learns that Amy and Rory are married, and that the Doctor is their friend. They spend another two exploring a brightly glowing cave system, and Loki learns that Rory and the Doctor are healers, and that Amy is actually their leader. A whole week goes by in a tiny village on Midgard, where Loki meets more of the Doctor's friends and they are menaced by a group of strangely armored creatures who look a bit like little siege engines.

Loki feels guilty and homesick for Thor, but Amy reassures him that Thor will be there when Loki goes home, and won't have realized that Loki was ever gone. Loki feels better, _relieved_ even, right up until the moment, two more weeks after that conversation, when the incredible blue box opens its doors and they step out-

-and into the dark bedchamber, just as Loki left it. The poker is still on the ground, without even the thinnest layer of dust over it. The blood that had seeped from Loki's broken nose and onto his bed that evening is still red.

“I don't understand,” Loki says softly, but he _does_. It's been a whole month of eating when he felt like it, of healing, of not being afraid. It's been a month, and his bruises have all disappeared and he doesn't wheeze painfully when he breathes, and Rory and Amy are looking sad and upset but they're not actually saying anything or stopping this, either.

The Doctor won't even look at him, just hangs back and speaks as if he expects Loki to hear.

“We can't keep you forever, Loki,” he says, and hearing the regret in his voice doesn't make it easier. “You have to go home now. You have to stay and grow up.”

“Please,” Loki doesn't like begging, but he can feel hysteria closing his throat, making it hard to sound like he's doing anything else. “Please, just a while longer? Nobody-” Loki takes a deep breath, and another, because if he doesn't he'll start crying, and he wants the Doctor to keep him. “Nobody wants me here, anyway, so can't I just-”

“No, Loki,” the Doctor says, and it sort of freezes Loki over. Amy kneels down next to him, rubbing his shoulders a little.

“Hey, kiddo, we'll see you again, alright?” she asks, and he nods, feeling numb.

They leave him and he sits on the edge of his bed, staring at the space where they used to be.

In a week's time Loki knows again what blood tastes like, the way it sticks to his teeth and clots on his tongue.

In a month's, Loki knows again the gnawing ache of hunger, of cold, of wanting the gentle, easy touch of companionship.

It is a year before Loki realizes that they're never coming back, no matter how much he wants them to, no matter how badly he _needs_ them to. After a while, he isn't even sure if they really existed, although he doesn't know if that makes it better or worse.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“You left me and you never _came back_ ,” Loki howls, and, to Steve's amazement, the young man on the right comes and pulls Loki into a loose, slightly uncomfortable hug, and Loki _lets_ him, his body going rigid as the magical energy around him eases back into the environment. Loki's body is trembling, and Thor's expression is wary and broken and desperate, his hand on Steve's shoulder.

“We're back _now_ ,” the woman says, something in her face reminding Steve of Peggy for a bittersweet moment. The man wearing the fez lets the other two talk to Loki for a moment, walking over to Steve and Thor with a wry little smile on his face.

“There you are. God of Thunder, always a pleasure-” Thor merely looks puzzled, as the man turns to Steve, “-and Captain Steven G. Rogers, Captain America. Another one who took the long way 'round,” he grins, and Steve wants to smile back at him, before he remembers Tony.

“The Iron Man-” Steve begins, and the man in the fez waves a weird little... it looks sort of like one of Howard's toys, although what its purpose could possibly be, Steve can't really tell.

“He'll be fine, up and running in no time, we just needed a moment to collect our friend.” Thor's brow wrinkles, and when he speaks, it's almost a whisper.

“You... are the Doctor,” he says, and the man in the fez- the Doctor, Steve supposes- looks a little surprised.

“He told you about us, did he?” he asks, and Thor shakes his head slowly.

“He called for you in his nightmares, for many years,” and he looks just as miserable as the Doctor looks, which... actually is about how Steve feels, although he isn't sure why. Thor hesitates, favoring the side that got the worst of the blast. “You... you will not abandon him again?”

“No,” the Doctor says quietly. “Not again. Not if I can help it.” Thor nods, exhaling. The Doctor slaps his hands together, rubbing them a little with a nervous energy that reminds Steve of Tony, especially after a bad weekend or a failed mission.

“Well! I suppose we'll have a bit of a fourth wheel on this honeymoon,” he says cheerfully.

“ _Honeymoon_?” Steve asks, because _that's_ the part that sticks. “What?”

“Captain! Watch out for that Winter Soldier chap, don't forget to pull your punches,” the Doctor adds, winking and turning back to herd his companions and Loki towards the mysterious blue box.

“What?” Steve asks, bewildered. Thor gives him a wincing half-shrug, rolling his eyes.

“Let us concentrate on freeing our brother in arms from his armor,” he mutters, and doesn't turn to look when, with a rush of sound and sudden emptiness, the box disappears, taking Loki and the strange trio with it.


End file.
